The company had many "green" soldiers, raw recruits who were filling the gaps resulting from the recent fighting. A murderous car-pet of fire from the fortified positions in Iraq al-Manshiyya covered them, and many of them were terrified. That’s when Jochanan stood up, to be an example for them, to overcome their fear. A burst of machine gun fire hit him in the chest, killing him instantly.
He wasn’t the garrulous type, unlike those who sit in the cafes of Tel Aviv and boast about their heroic deeds. He often wore a shy smile on his face. The smile of someone who values modesty as a fun-damental virtue.
He signed up shortly after me, and I felt sorry for him deep in my heart. "He is too good natured and won’t be able to stand up for himself in the army," I thought to myself. "His superiors and his peers will tease him and take advantage of him."
After about a month I happened to meet a common friend in the company, and asked him how Jochanan was doing. "Jochanan?" he asked. "He is a real soldier. A wonderful fellow." In the course of one month he had made his mark. Instead of teasing him and exploiting him, his comrades and superiors envied him his quiet bravery. He didn’t like military life. But he was an exemplary soldier.
* * *
Music was what filled his life with meaning. He could forget himself at the piano. And during the long weeks when he and his comrades were besieged in Gat, he could soothe his troubled comrades with his music.
Some weeks before the war started, be began to perform in public. A glowing future was painted for him. Great things were expected of him, as a composer too. But then his long fingers began to play on the trigger of an automatic weapon. It is hard to imagine a stranger character in this destructive task. But still, he proved himself in battle. What is special about such people, that gives them the power to hold their own in battle? What is it that makes them into model soldiers?
It is certainly not ideological commitment. Jochanan didn’t understand much about politics. It did not interest him. What moti-vated him was human decency. He could have "arranged" some-thing in an office of the army culture department. But he signed up as a matter of course. His brother was a member of one of the